Chapter 100
“Hey, sis.”
The representative of the dwarves could cry all he wanted, but the hero didn’t seem to care. He leaned in closer and whispered in a tiny voice.
“Hmm? What’s up?”
“I think the reward you mentioned will definitely be a glorious one for the tribe, but I doubt it’ll work as a personal reward for the winner.”
“Hmm… is that so?”
When I asked, the hero nodded slightly.
“Yeah. Since they are the ones who fought for victory, there should be something just for them.”
“Hmm… how bothersome. Can’t they just sort things out themselves?”
“It would be better to have an official reward.”
I sighed softly at the hero’s words. He was right, I guess.
Those who fought and won should get their own rewards.
So I said,
“Stop crying and get it together.”
“Wahhh!”
I gave the emotional dwarf representative a little shove backward. He fell over like a turtle.
“What do you think would be a good gift for the representatives of the winning tribe?”
“Huh? What?”
“Since you’ve won, shouldn’t there be a reward just for you?”
I wanted to let it go because it sounded troublesome, but since the hero insisted, I had no choice. Hmm.
“A reward…? That’s already more than enough.”
Whether he was just pretending to be humble or genuinely satisfied, the dwarf representative insisted he didn’t need anything more.
But that’s not what I wanted to hear.
“When I say I’ll give something, make sure to talk to the others and decide quickly. What you decide will become the reward for the winner ten years from now, or even later.”
I didn’t want to keep asking the winners what they wanted just to give them rewards.
Batch processing is the way to go. Yes, batch processing.
“Uh, then I’ll go talk to the others.”
“Oh, and keep in mind that since the elves have a chance to win too, I won’t consider rewards that only benefit you dwarves. Choose wisely. Feel free to talk to the elves too, if needed.”
If they can have a friendly chat with the people they just had a fierce battle with!
“Something related to lifespan wouldn’t be bad, but that won’t mean much to you elves.”
“Our youth isn’t that different either. Not just us, but the dwarves too. Hmm. If dwarves become younger, would their beards disappear? They weren’t born with beards, were they?”
“No way! How can you get rid of hard-earned beards? How about… I don’t know, just a normal blessing would be better.”
“Hmm. Since the reward might not just be for us but for our descendants too, we have to be even more careful.”
What’s with you guys? Why are you being so friendly?
If they won, shouldn’t they throw a tantrum, saying “we beat you, you short-bearded dwarves!” and get all fired up about next time?
Why are they getting along so well?!
The dwarves and elves, after their uselessly friendly discussion, said,
“We pray that the Goddess of Life bestows a blessing upon us.”
“Blessing?”
Oh? They went for a pretty ordinary request.
But a blessing? That sounds vague. I wish they’d specify what kind of blessing they meant.
What do you want? Something like being immune to diseases, or living longer, or something more concrete?
Just saying “please bless us” leaves me clueless about what to do.
“Any specific requests?”
“Hmm… can we just be super healthy?”
“That’s way too vague…”
I sighed as I looked at the bewildered dwarf representative and said,
“Then how about something like overflowing vitality? It’ll be limited to ten years.”
“If we have overflowing vitality… what benefits does that bring?”
“Well, it means longer lifespans, quicker healing from wounds, higher disease resistance, and better physical abilities. It’s just a straightforward, helpful blessing. Nothing flashy.”
Just a simple choice, but on the other hand, I wondered if this would really be okay. Is this really fine? Seriously?
“That’s enough for us. We’ve already gained honor and glory, so wanting more would be greedy.”
When the dwarf representative said that, the others nodded in agreement.
“Okay, if that’s how you feel… then I’ll put a blessing on this trophy. When the winners gather to lift it, the blessing will be given to them.”
I handed the trophy over to the dwarf representative after placing the blessing on it.
“However, if an unworthy person lifts this trophy, the blessing will turn into a curse instead.”
And on top of that, let’s give the thief a hefty dose of punishment.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“And so, a potential war between the elves and dwarves transformed into a contest of tribal pride.”
“By the way, the elves won last time. Hehe.”
“But this year will be different! This year!!”
The dwarf girl said this, and the elf girl chimed in, while the dwarf girl shouted again.
“Even though the world is in chaos because of the Demon King, are we still doing this tribal competition? Including other races as well?”
“That’s exactly why we must do it.”
The deep-voiced lizardman next to them responded to the boy.
“Even if the world is messed up thanks to the Demon King, we need to show that every tribe still has this much strength left.”
“Yeah, I get it. You’re just posturing.”
The horned silver-haired girl added, and the lizardman silently patted her head, then pulled out a small candy from his pocket and said,
“Those kinds of words aren’t nice, so don’t use them.”
“Okay.”
The silver-haired girl grabbed the candy like it was routine, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
“But why, if it started as a war between the elves and dwarves, are other races involved now?”
“That’s because there are interests in play for this city.”
The dwarf girl said, and the boy tilted his head in confusion.
“Interests?”
“Yeah, interests. It’s about being able to temporarily rule over this massive city. An ancient city prepared by the gods. A city of the arena, by the arena, and for the arena. Betelgeuse.”
Betelgeuse. A city where blood flows, but lives do not vanish.
In ancient times, the Dragon’s Priestess and the Goddess of Life stopped the war between the elves and dwarves, creating an arena that guaranteed safety from fatal injuries no matter the weapons or magic involved.
The fierce battles in this arena, where no one got seriously hurt, were as exciting as a grand festival during boring times, naturally attracting people and money alike.
All those gathered built a village, which then turned into a city, and finally became a huge city packed with arenas.
Thus, the arena city created by the gods was named Betelgeuse—nobody knows by whom.
“If you could temporarily control such a huge city, it wouldn’t matter what race you belonged to. But no country could easily take this city with duelists, elves, and dwarves keeping a watchful eye… so the idea became: ‘Let’s win it!’”
“But ten years is way too long! Human lifespans are too short!” the humans protested. After days of meetings with all tribes and the high-ranking members of the Church of Life, it was changed to every four years instead. Honestly, it feels a bit too short, though.
“We lizardmen don’t care much about the city. We focus on the annual martial arts tournament instead. But we got motivated to join because we could fight strong opponents from other tribes.”
“By the way, the beastmen are all over the place with their differing opinions, so the humans had to force them all to participate together. Thus, there are four teams: elves, dwarves, lizardmen, and humans including beastmen.”
“By the way, I almost got dragged into the last tournament myself.”
The girl with fox ears looked down at the lively city and murmured her discontent.
“Humans. How sneaky.”
Hearing that, the horned girl grumbled a bit.
“What can I say? Humans are just sneaky like that.”
“Yeah, they’re sneaky, aren’t they?”
The elf and dwarf girls patted the somewhat pouty horned girl’s head and eyed the human boy.
“What’s up? Why the glare? What did I do?”
“It’s nothing. Really.”
“Explain! I want an explanation! Stop mumbling to yourselves!”
“You wouldn’t understand anyway. Humans are sneaky, after all.”
At that moment, they had no idea what was about to happen.
That they would get involved in an incident where the trophy, the glorious symbol of their duel tournament victory, would mysteriously disappear.
– The adventure log of a certain hero party.
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